• Get in
• Get around
• See
• Do
• Buy
• Eat
• Drink
• Sleep
• Get out

Erlian is a city in Inner Mongolia.

[edit] Get in

There are both trains and sleeper buses from Beijing. The train staion is on the eastern border of the town. The long distance bus station is nearby, about one block west and 2-3 blocks north of the train station.

[edit] Get around

Taxi's and pedicabs are everywhere. As are vans that will offer to take you to Mongolia. (The border crossing can only be made by car or train)

[edit] See

Nothing. This is a sprawling town, with wide roads and little in the way of attractions. There is a giant sculpture at the intersection of the main roads - one running east-west from the train station, the other north-south. In the south-eastern part of town there is a huge square with the obligatory chinese flag and some unusual dinosaur statues amongst trees at the edge of the square.

[edit] Do

Get a Mongolian visa. The main CITS office can arrange a visa in one day for 450 yuan. You must be at the main CITS office before 9am to drop off your passport, one passport photo and the processing fee. You can pick up your passport at 3pm. The CITS office is open Monday to Friday and will even process visa's during the 'Golden Week' public holidays that close the Mongolian Embassy in Beijing.

There is something of a dinosaur exhibit in Erlian. As of June 2008 the new dinosaur museum was still under construction. The site is located about 7km from the centre of Erlian. There is also a small Dinosaur park (Kong Long Mu Di) with large replicas of dinosaur skeletons.

[edit] Buy

[edit] Eat

[edit] Drink

[edit] Sleep

The biggest Hotel in Erlian is the Ru Yi International Mansion. Rooms start at 330 yuan per night.

There are many smaller hotels around the train station costing 50-60 yuan for a double.

[edit] Get out

Trains leave from the station going to both Ulaanbaatar and Beijing. Sleeper buses leave from the long distance bus station heading to Beijing (sleeper bus should cost around 180 yuan).

Buses go to Hohhot every hour or so and cost 88 yuan for the 5-6 hour trip.

You can cross the border into Mongolia by bus. There are morning and afternoon buses. The cost is 60 yuan to ride from the bus station in Erlian to the train station in Zamyn-Uud, Mongolia.

You can also cross the border by hitching a ride with one of the many Mongolians doing trade between Erlian and Zamyn-Uud. They are the ones driving the Jeeps around the city. Stand in the middle of the street near the border and flag one down. Pay anywhere from 10RMB to 100RMB depending on your skillz.